Penix?

[JayBirdHawk]

The Atlanta Falcons pulled off the biggest shocker of the early part of the NFL draft Thursday night, taking Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick. And that stunned feeling extended to incumbent quarterback Kirk Cousins, too.

The Falcons made the pick despite signing veteran quarterback Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract last month in free agency.

Cousins' agent, Mike McCartney, told ESPN's Pete Thamel that the Falcons only notified the QB that they'd pick Penix while the team was on the clock. McCartney said there is frustration and confusion coming from Cousins' camp because Atlanta did not use its first-round pick to make the team better in 2024.

Instead, the Falcons used their selection on Cousins' apparent successor before Cousins played a single down for the team. McCartney said Cousins understands the business of football and is ready to move on, but there was indeed surprise about the Falcons' decision.

[Spud2nique]

I honestly read this as:

Trae welcomes Pen!s to ATL ️ 

 

You have Cousins signed for 4 years..

I mean.. groomed I guess but.. I think I would have picked a position for the current team not 4 years down the road and sit on the bench with a top 10 pick.

Dang. I’m rooting I’m wrong about this but I don’t love it.  

[JayBirdHawk]

 

I guess we'll have to see how the rest if the draft plays out going forward.

[TheBigETrain]

Why can't Atlanta have good owners?

Atlanta spirit group. Suing each other. Lost the Thrashers..

Tony Ressler puts his son in charge of making basketball decision.

And now Arthur Blank who I thought was a good owner making an executive draft decision probably against the wishes of his GM, scouts and new coach.

This is an absolute horrific decision. I would rather NFL take away the pick for tampering. At least Anthony Molina let Sonny Weaver Jr make his own pick. Blank has gone senile. They need to put him in an old folks home.

[AHF]

I laughed at the overpay for Cousins and now they compound this by taking a 6th year Senior and gluing him to the bench for at least the next two years.  Nicely played Falcons.  I guess I'm never going to see a Falcons team with an actual pass rush.

[JayBirdHawk]

Atlanta Falcons 2024 NFL Draft picks

Round 1: No. 8- Michael Penix Jr, QB, Washington
Round 2: No. 35 (from AZ)- Ruke Orhorhoro, DT, Clemson
Round 3: No. 74-Bralen Trice, EDGE, Washington
Round 4: No. 109-Brandon Dorius, DT, Oregon
Round 5: No. 143-JD Bertrand, LB, Notre Dame
Round 6: No. 186- (from AZ through MIN)-Jase McClellan, RB, Alabama
Round 6: No. 187-Casey Washington, WR, Illinois
Round 6: No. 197 (from CLE)-Zion Logue, DT, Georgia

[Gray Mule]

Cousins is not a robot.  Like all the rest of us humans he doesn't come with a guarantee that he will be 100% healthy for the entire length of his contract.  Falcons have wisely drafted his insurance.  Expensive?  You bet.  Cousins is expensive.  Naturally his replacement will not come cheap.  

Cousins has no complaint with this draft pick.  He should see this draft pick as a student for him to train.  Cousins has big $$$ money guaranteed.  No worry there.

I'm very pleased that the Falcons did this.  If Cousins remains healthy, he's the Falcon starter for quite some time.  If he's injured any time, then his replacement will be ready.  I think that this is a very wise move.

[thecampster]

I had no problem with the Penix pick. I had a problem with them not trading down for assets to draft him. He was going to be there at 15 (ish).  

My bigger problem is the trade up for Ruke who would have been there 10 picks later. They traded a 3rd and their second to move up a few slots to get Ruke.  This was a bigger travesty to me.  They could have traded down a few slots, still got Penix, picked up another 3rd, got Ruke and had 3x3rd round picks.  This was a master class is wasting assets.

[JayBirdHawk]

17 minutes ago, thecampster said:

I had no problem with the Penix pick. I had a problem with them not trading down for assets to draft him. He was going to be there at 15 (ish).  

It requires a team WANTING to trade up though doesn't it. From all accounts there wasn't a team WILLING to trade up so Atlanta could move down.

[JayBirdHawk]

23 minutes ago, thecampster said:

had no problem with the Penix pick. I had a problem with them not trading down for assets to draft him. He was going to be there at 15 (ish).  

Also note that there was a rumor of the Saints interest in Penix. They were at 14.

[Gray Mule]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Also note that there was a rumor of the Saints interest in Penix. They were at 14.

Later, the Saints did draft a QB.  You've got to grab what you want when the opportunity arises.

[sturt]

I like Penix, me.

@thecampster and @JayBirdHawk are both taking reasonable positions. Camp is right that Penix generally was seen as a mid-round pick at best. Jay is right that you can't know what you can't know. And @Gray Mule is right that if you're that convinced that a QB is going to be all-that, you stand there and take him.

But why not disclose to Cousins "this is what we're thinking of doing, and we just want you to be in the loop out of respect"... ?

That would be the most disturbing part to me. Sure, Cousins wouldn't be thrilled with it, but you've effectively made it doubly worse--by not saying something, he's not only feeling disappointed, but now, feeling disrespected.

[sturt]

8 hours ago, Gray Mule said:

quite some time.

Given a closer look, "some time" realistically could be just two off-seasons from now. Cousins may be cut as early as June 1, 2026, with $45m of cap savings as incentive for that to happen.

 

[thecampster]

On 4/28/2024 at 9:16 AM, JayBirdHawk said:

Also note that there was a rumor of the Saints interest in Penix. They were at 14.

We all know I'm a pretty low risk guy.  But our first 4 picks went from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd to a 1st that won't pay off for 2+ years, a 2nd Round D-tackle projected to go in the  late 2nd, early 3rd and an OLB.  We had 4 picks in the first 79 and came out of it with only 1 guy slotted to play rotation minutes in 2024.  Just makes me ill.

Nothing against Penix. I think he'll be a good, potentially great pro. Its how they went about their business. Very amateurish.

[Gray Mule]

For all those who believe that this is all wrong, please give the Falcons a written guarantee that Cousins will never suffer an injury while he's a member of the team.

Gray Mule, that's silly.  You know that this is impossible.  No one can guarantee the future.

Well, because that this is true, consider this:  Falcons have their present QB.  They have their future QB.  They made no plans for this position while Matty Ice was here.  Look what happened.  

When Cousins completes his big contract, the Falcons still have the position covered for at least ten seasons.  What is wrong with having the most important position on the team covered for the future?

Talking heads are exploding.  Can't understand why.  History after Matty Ice explains our QB needs.  Minority report.  I like!

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:58 AM by Gray Mule

[macdaddy]

I'll just never understand the 'he's great but we took him too high' argument.   Anyone wish we'd traded up for Giannis?  

 

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I'll just never understand the 'he's great but we took him too high' argument.   Anyone wish we'd traded up for Giannis?  

 

Agreed if he’s the one he’s the one. But to fans it means you wanna win in a bit not now, which sucks.

[Gray Mule]

On 5/2/2024 at 11:06 AM, Spud2nique said:

Agreed if he’s the one he’s the one. But to fans it means you wanna win in a bit not now, which sucks.

"Talking heads," those people that think they know everything, all seem to agree that the QB position, the most important in the NFL, was the Falcon's weakness last season.  

Falcons have made, in my opinion, their QB position their strongest position.  Everything in the offense starts with the center.  When he successfully gives it to the QB, everything then revolves around what he does with the ball.  He's very important!

Cousins is expected to start, lead the team and, while he's doing this, teach our rookie how to be a QB in the NFL.  Penix is, I believe, a young, very talented, future QB of the Falcons.  I expect to see quite a bit of him in the exhibition season, then seldom, if ever, in the regular season. 

[AHF]

On 5/1/2024 at 7:57 AM, Gray Mule said:

For all those who believe that this is all wrong, please give the Falcons a written guarantee that Cousins will never suffer an injury while he's a member of the team.

Gray Mule, that's silly.  You know that this is impossible.  No one can guarantee the future.

Well, because that this is true, consider this:  Falcons have their present QB.  They have their future QB.  They made no plans for this position while Matty Ice was here.  Look what happened.  

When Cousins completes his big contract, the Falcons still have the position covered for at least ten seasons.  What is wrong with having the most important position on the team covered for the future?

Talking heads are exploding.  Can't understand why.  History after Matty Ice explains our QB needs.  Minority report.  I like!

 

If the idea is drafting Penix as insurance in case our QB is not healthy he is a strange choice.  He literally had 4 season ending injuries in college.

My complaints aside though, the reality is that QBs are tough to project in the NFL.  Most are busts even guys taken high in the draft.  If Penix turns out to be a star that will go down as a fantastic pick.  (Assuming we don't get rid of him Brett Favre style).  If he isn't an excellent starting QB then we'll look back at this as a chance to get a plus starter at another position that was wasted.  Nobody regrets taking the developmental QBs who turn out to be studs, though.

On 4/28/2024 at 8:52 AM, thecampster said:

My bigger problem is the trade up for Ruke who would have been there 10 picks later. They traded a 3rd and their second to move up a few slots to get Ruke.  This was a bigger travesty to me.  They could have traded down a few slots, still got Penix, picked up another 3rd, got Ruke and had 3x3rd round picks.  This was a master class is wasting assets.

The Ruke pick was a joke.  What a stupid decision to trade up there.  Odds of him still being on the board when we picked were prohibitively high and he wasn't so highly regarded as to make it a huge deal even if he was off the board and we had to pick someone else.

Just not a great draft.  I hope the DL/edge talent we got have a huge impact on our pass rush.  I'm not sold on them based on the scouting reports but that is a huge need and at least some draft capital was put towards it.  Just hope it was the right picks.

[Gray Mule]

The one thing in this or any draft that I try to hold on to is this.  The GM, all the scouts and all the coaches have had the opportunity to meet all the players in the draft.  They have watched a lot of film, saw them play live and have talked to them.  Since I know nothing, it's hard for me to seriously object to anything that they do.

I believe that attitude of any player is important.  If the organization doesn't like a player's attitude, why take him?  "I know more than you do, therefore you can teach me nothing."  Yep.  Let someone else worry about this player.

Talent is very important.  Fit is very important.  Attitude is very important.  Happy am I that I don't have to make all these decisions.  I just hope that the Falcon organization has made the correct moves.